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leslie1187's review against another edition
5.0
This was such a fast-paced, action-packed thrill to read. All the plot twists kept me reading and the characters were so solidly written that I had no trouble at all visualizing scenes unfold in my mind's eye as I read. I especially loved the bond between brothers Blaine and Gray (which I'll just leave it at that and keep my lips zipped shut to avoid spoiling a huge plot-twist that sets the plot into motion). And as much as I don't like love triangles, I actually like the one that forms in this and I'm curious where else it'll lead to in the next book (Emma/Gray/Bree) because I like all three of these characters and I can't decide which pair I like together more... I'm tempted to say Gray/Bree, but Emma/Gray have known each other longer even if they had only been together for a short time before everything in the story shifted, separating them.
And the prose... so rich and beautiful with a unique style. I especially enjoyed reading how Gray saw everything after he had climbed the wall and been rescued by the Order before his body ended up burnt. It was like I was experiencing everything behind Gray's eyes even if I knew exactly what everything he was seeing was from the descriptions, but it was all described in a way that makes sense yet isn't easily thought of in that way unless you're seeing it for the first time and have limited to zero knowledge of what you're looking at as Gray has with what he faces beyond the wall of Claysoot. Not sure any of that made any sense, but just know that this novel is very well written with a distinct style and pattern of its own that sets apart from other dystopian novels.
Over all, I greatly enjoyed Taken and am looking forward to the second book in the series, Frozen, to be released next year. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading YA, dystopian, adventure, and/or genre-driven stories with likable characters that you'll find yourself rooting for the whole time you're reading. I most definitely will be reading the other books as they're released.
And the prose... so rich and beautiful with a unique style. I especially enjoyed reading how Gray saw everything after he had climbed the wall and been rescued by the Order before his body ended up burnt. It was like I was experiencing everything behind Gray's eyes even if I knew exactly what everything he was seeing was from the descriptions, but it was all described in a way that makes sense yet isn't easily thought of in that way unless you're seeing it for the first time and have limited to zero knowledge of what you're looking at as Gray has with what he faces beyond the wall of Claysoot. Not sure any of that made any sense, but just know that this novel is very well written with a distinct style and pattern of its own that sets apart from other dystopian novels.
Over all, I greatly enjoyed Taken and am looking forward to the second book in the series, Frozen, to be released next year. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading YA, dystopian, adventure, and/or genre-driven stories with likable characters that you'll find yourself rooting for the whole time you're reading. I most definitely will be reading the other books as they're released.
beckylej's review against another edition
3.0
Almost fifty years ago, a group of kids woke to find themselves trapped together in a walled village. There were no adults - they would soon find that there was in fact no one over the age of seventeen - and with the exception of siblings, none of them knew one another. They'd assumed that some tragic event left them alone in their town and with no memories. From that point forward, they called their town Claysoot and did their best to make a life for themselves. One of the things they'd soon discover was the Heist, the disappearance of any male on his eighteenth birthday. A few brave souls would attempt to breach the wall over the years, but their charred remains were always discovered within days of their climb.
Gray and his brother Blaine have only ever known life in Claysoot. Gray has planned everything carefully, avoiding situations that will make his own Heist harder. When Blaine is taken, Gray makes a startling discovery, one that will force him to attempt what no one before him has been able to do - climb the wall and survive.
I'm on the fence about this one. It was a fun enough read, but nothing felt all that amazing or stand out about it. Instead, it was similar in a lot of ways to a variety of futuristic, dystopian releases of late, some of which have been more exciting and others that haven't.
For me TAKEN was middle of the road. Bowman's writing is fine and the story is interesting enough to keep a reader going, but it's all a bit expected. There aren't any surprises - I could see just about everything in the story coming along the way.
Gray and his brother Blaine have only ever known life in Claysoot. Gray has planned everything carefully, avoiding situations that will make his own Heist harder. When Blaine is taken, Gray makes a startling discovery, one that will force him to attempt what no one before him has been able to do - climb the wall and survive.
I'm on the fence about this one. It was a fun enough read, but nothing felt all that amazing or stand out about it. Instead, it was similar in a lot of ways to a variety of futuristic, dystopian releases of late, some of which have been more exciting and others that haven't.
For me TAKEN was middle of the road. Bowman's writing is fine and the story is interesting enough to keep a reader going, but it's all a bit expected. There aren't any surprises - I could see just about everything in the story coming along the way.
simonaisbooked's review against another edition
3.0
Páčilo sa mi:
+ nápadito vymyslený svet
+ realistické postavy
+ napätie, v každej kapitole sa niečo dialo, takže sa tam nevyskytovali nudné pasáže
Mínusy:
- jedna veľká chyba, že som túto knihu odložila, pretože sa mi k nej ťažko vracalo
- napriek tomu, že to bolo zaujímavo vymyslené, nechytilo ma to, čo ma dosť mrzelo
Celkovo bola kniha fajn, ale chýbalo to mu niečo, čo by mi bralo dych a ja by som hltala kapitolu za kapitolou. Aj napriek akcii sa dej vliekol a navyše som knihu odložila kvôli povinnému čítaniu, čo bola chyba.
+ nápadito vymyslený svet
+ realistické postavy
+ napätie, v každej kapitole sa niečo dialo, takže sa tam nevyskytovali nudné pasáže
Mínusy:
- jedna veľká chyba, že som túto knihu odložila, pretože sa mi k nej ťažko vracalo
- napriek tomu, že to bolo zaujímavo vymyslené, nechytilo ma to, čo ma dosť mrzelo
Celkovo bola kniha fajn, ale chýbalo to mu niečo, čo by mi bralo dych a ja by som hltala kapitolu za kapitolou. Aj napriek akcii sa dej vliekol a navyše som knihu odložila kvôli povinnému čítaniu, čo bola chyba.
alyscreative's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't particularly like this book, there was too much focus on romance and physical relationships in comparison to the bigger issues in the world. I felt that the character and place names were very un-creative, there wasn't enough in regards to physical descriptions of characters to allow them to fully form in my head and of the characters that had been described, there didn't seem to be a lot of diversity. The book was well written and the storyline moved fast enough to keep me engaged, but I felt that the author missed out on a brilliant opportunity in regards to foreshadowing, which was disappointing.
Spoiler
While the ending was written in a way that gave closure to the story, and allowed for the possibility for the story to continue either by way of a sequel or the imagination of the reader, there are a range of hints about a disease being spread to the population of Crevice Valley by way of infiltration. It would have been entirely possible and easy for Frank to have infected Emma, knowing that Gray would come back for her. Frank knew that 'Blaine' was in fact Gray, in fact he mixed up their names and Gray hinted that it may have been done on purpose. However on return to Crevice Valley, everything is fine and dandy, everyone is immunised and nobody appears to be infected. This I feel is a missed opportunity which would have added a further twist to the story, and the failure to act upon this foreshadowing was very disappointing (and made said foreshadowing pointless).xan_van_rooyen's review against another edition
Sadly a DNF for me. Just didn't like the characters.
sarcrawsh's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. Captivating and difficult to put down but also has many elements similar to other dystopian series, like The Hunger Games and Divergent. But will definitely read the next book!
la_cori's review against another edition
3.0
Di sicuro di questo libro si può dire di tutto, ma non che non abbia ritmo!!
In poco più di 300 pagine succede di tutto e il contrario di tutto.. E detta così non sarebbe neanche una cosa negativa, peccato che in tutta questa successione di colpi ad effetto i personaggi son rimasti semplicemente abbozzati!!
Il protagonista, Gray, si limita a raccontare tutto ciò che succede e alla fine di lui sappiamo solo che è impulsivo, e per gli altri personaggi è anche peggio..
Peccato, perchè la storia in generale è molto interessante, ma mi è mancato qualcuno a cui affezionarmi e per cui fare il tifo durante la lettura!!!
In poco più di 300 pagine succede di tutto e il contrario di tutto.. E detta così non sarebbe neanche una cosa negativa, peccato che in tutta questa successione di colpi ad effetto i personaggi son rimasti semplicemente abbozzati!!
Il protagonista, Gray, si limita a raccontare tutto ciò che succede e alla fine di lui sappiamo solo che è impulsivo, e per gli altri personaggi è anche peggio..
Peccato, perchè la storia in generale è molto interessante, ma mi è mancato qualcuno a cui affezionarmi e per cui fare il tifo durante la lettura!!!
noteonthepolaroid's review against another edition
3.0
At the start of this book, I was a bit skeptical of whether I would like this book, but I did, A LOT!!! It was extremely intriguing, with the plot twists, that happen every so often. Great book 7.5/10
the_cover_contessa's review against another edition
3.0
A good story but too many inconsistencies to make it great. review to come.
I want to thank Net Galley and the Publisher, Harper Teen, for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and give an honest review. Receiving this book for free has in no way influenced my opinion or review.
Blurb from Goodreads:
There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends…and he’s gone.
They call it the Heist.
Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.
Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?
The blurb for this book sounded so great, I could not bear not to request a copy of it to read. What's more intriguing than a dystopian society where the men only live until they are 18, or at least only stay with the society until they are 18. It's a disturbing and unique concept. I was so curious how the author would keep this society going with such a strict age limit. So, imagine my surprise when I started reading and stumbled upon inconsistencies and loose ends. It drove me nuts!
Cover love: yup, I have it. I just love this cover. I love the colors. Wow, they pop right out at you. The image of the tree, very important to the story. And the orange color which seems to almost be on fire, another important pat of the story. I can honestly say that this cover drew me right into wanting to read the blurb to see what it was all about.
I enjoyed the characters in this book well enough. They are fairly well developed for the most part. However, this is nothing uniquely special about them. They are not memorable in any way. Also, given the fact that the characters had been living in a world where there was not technology of any sort, I was surprised at how quickly they were able to adapt to another world and didn't even question things or seem afraid of them.
Gray is a hot headed teen who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. He leads with his heart, rarely looking to what might be right when thought about in his head. One important aspect of his character was that he didn't just let things sit, he asked questions. Although, I had a hard time believing that he really hadn't started asking them until he was 17, only 1 year from the Heist. He does grow in the story, finally understand how his actions will affect others. He shows promise in his growth, for sure, but he has a lot of maturing to do.
Emma, she just annoyed me. She didn't want anything to do with Gray, and then suddenly she is into him. I didn't see the progression to be honest. From what Bowman wrote at the beginning of the book, she was always much more into Blaine, Gray's brother. I think the separation that happened very early on in the book, after Emma and Gray had established a relationship, really just killed it. She also just wasn't strong. I found her to be very passive and timid. At first, I thought for sure she wouldn't be, with how she came off when speaking to Gray, but that quickly turned around.
Bree, well, here comes the love triangle. Yup, what else is new with a YA dystopian novel, right? It always has to be there. And, to be honest, it annoyed me. However, I preferred Bree's character over Emma. Bree is strong and strong minded. She's interested in what is good for all, how she can help the masses. And she's not interested in someone who doesn't see this. So her inability to click with Gray right away was not surprising. However, her falling for him kind of surprised me. Again, it happened much more quickly than I thought it would have.
Frank is your typical good character turned bad. From the beginning I can tell there are things that just aren't right about him. He is too nice, he treats Gray too well. So I wasn't surprised when things turned around, to be honest. And, while we get an idea of who he is, I really don't understand why he created what he did or where he was going with it.
I liked Bowman's writing well enough. It's always nice to see a YA book written in a male POV. Her flow was pretty good. However, that's about where it stops for me. There was WAY too much going on with the plot. She introduced way too many new concepts and it left things untied, leaving holes in her logic. I felt like she just kept adding things to the story to try and give it more depth, but it was actually more distracting than anything else and it left so many loose ends. I hate loose ends. And I need things to relate and make sense. There were some mysteries that I certainly was not expecting for sure. I think those made the story line more intriguing and that is really what kept me going.
All in all I liked the concept of this book. If you like movies like The Village, then this will be right up your ally. However, I would not expect too much from it. It goes along well enough, but there is just way too much stuff introduced to keep in line and I really wanted to see more growth from the characters. By the end, I felt I had already read more than one book in this trilogy and I question how the author will keep readers entertained in the second installment of this series. There were too many loose ends, too much that was left untied in the end. I know this is a series, but in the end I need to understand motives and reasoning and it just wasn't there from the viewpoint of the "government" involvement.
I can say that I will not rush to read the next installment in this series. It really didn't leave me wanting more or wondering where it would go.
3 out of 5 stars from me.
I want to thank Net Galley and the Publisher, Harper Teen, for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and give an honest review. Receiving this book for free has in no way influenced my opinion or review.
Blurb from Goodreads:
There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends…and he’s gone.
They call it the Heist.
Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.
Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side?
The blurb for this book sounded so great, I could not bear not to request a copy of it to read. What's more intriguing than a dystopian society where the men only live until they are 18, or at least only stay with the society until they are 18. It's a disturbing and unique concept. I was so curious how the author would keep this society going with such a strict age limit. So, imagine my surprise when I started reading and stumbled upon inconsistencies and loose ends. It drove me nuts!
Cover love: yup, I have it. I just love this cover. I love the colors. Wow, they pop right out at you. The image of the tree, very important to the story. And the orange color which seems to almost be on fire, another important pat of the story. I can honestly say that this cover drew me right into wanting to read the blurb to see what it was all about.
I enjoyed the characters in this book well enough. They are fairly well developed for the most part. However, this is nothing uniquely special about them. They are not memorable in any way. Also, given the fact that the characters had been living in a world where there was not technology of any sort, I was surprised at how quickly they were able to adapt to another world and didn't even question things or seem afraid of them.
Gray is a hot headed teen who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. He leads with his heart, rarely looking to what might be right when thought about in his head. One important aspect of his character was that he didn't just let things sit, he asked questions. Although, I had a hard time believing that he really hadn't started asking them until he was 17, only 1 year from the Heist. He does grow in the story, finally understand how his actions will affect others. He shows promise in his growth, for sure, but he has a lot of maturing to do.
Emma, she just annoyed me. She didn't want anything to do with Gray, and then suddenly she is into him. I didn't see the progression to be honest. From what Bowman wrote at the beginning of the book, she was always much more into Blaine, Gray's brother. I think the separation that happened very early on in the book, after Emma and Gray had established a relationship, really just killed it. She also just wasn't strong. I found her to be very passive and timid. At first, I thought for sure she wouldn't be, with how she came off when speaking to Gray, but that quickly turned around.
Bree, well, here comes the love triangle. Yup, what else is new with a YA dystopian novel, right? It always has to be there. And, to be honest, it annoyed me. However, I preferred Bree's character over Emma. Bree is strong and strong minded. She's interested in what is good for all, how she can help the masses. And she's not interested in someone who doesn't see this. So her inability to click with Gray right away was not surprising. However, her falling for him kind of surprised me. Again, it happened much more quickly than I thought it would have.
Frank is your typical good character turned bad. From the beginning I can tell there are things that just aren't right about him. He is too nice, he treats Gray too well. So I wasn't surprised when things turned around, to be honest. And, while we get an idea of who he is, I really don't understand why he created what he did or where he was going with it.
Spoiler
Who would set up all this different communities in the hopes of the strongest surviving and then taking those strong people and making clones of them? Especially in the middle of a war? It would take way too long for these clones to come to fruition and even be of any help.I liked Bowman's writing well enough. It's always nice to see a YA book written in a male POV. Her flow was pretty good. However, that's about where it stops for me. There was WAY too much going on with the plot. She introduced way too many new concepts and it left things untied, leaving holes in her logic. I felt like she just kept adding things to the story to try and give it more depth, but it was actually more distracting than anything else and it left so many loose ends. I hate loose ends. And I need things to relate and make sense. There were some mysteries that I certainly was not expecting for sure. I think those made the story line more intriguing and that is really what kept me going.
All in all I liked the concept of this book. If you like movies like The Village, then this will be right up your ally. However, I would not expect too much from it. It goes along well enough, but there is just way too much stuff introduced to keep in line and I really wanted to see more growth from the characters. By the end, I felt I had already read more than one book in this trilogy and I question how the author will keep readers entertained in the second installment of this series. There were too many loose ends, too much that was left untied in the end. I know this is a series, but in the end I need to understand motives and reasoning and it just wasn't there from the viewpoint of the "government" involvement.
I can say that I will not rush to read the next installment in this series. It really didn't leave me wanting more or wondering where it would go.
3 out of 5 stars from me.
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Oh! I loved this book! So good, and I can't wait for the next book!!!